Talk:You Are Not Alone/@comment-24712996-20140520221230
The most important plot in any book, movie or television show is the love triangle. Over the years many shows have used this device to lure in viewers and most of the time it works, however, when presented poorly or dragged out it can ruin your show *cough* Degrassi *cough*﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ After a lot of investigation (watching a lot of TV – a justifiable alternative to revision when described as ‘research’), I have concluded that it comes down to one thing: the so called ‘bad boy’. I fully just cringed writing that but for the purposes of making my point it was necessary. The main example of my research is Chuck Bass, and if you haven’t guessed already he’s the guy from like one of the greatest teen show EVER, Gossip Girl. Yeah, alright it wasn’t that good but for the purposes of this article let’s just pretend it was. The theory explains that shows which are aimed at young women, aged 13 – 30, can have a successful show by employing a strong heroine, a good guy character and of course the bad boy character. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿The first step is making the heroine fall for the good guy and he’s the obvious choice which we root for. He’s the archetypal dream boy: good hair, a pretty face, well-spoken and a six pack (Nate Archibald ticks off all these points- I checked). After a while their relationship becomes strained because they want different things from life – in Blair and Nate’s case, he wanted her best friend and she wanted world domination (cast your mind back to season 1!) The heroine becomes bored of the relationship and looks for someone to challenge her and make life more interesting. Enter the bad boy. He’s the guy who isn’t necessarily book smart, he doesn’t listen to anyone, so called ‘player’ and has a comeback for everything. ﻿﻿﻿This theory attempts to explain why a good girl eventually fall for bad boys – and it’s not because they ride motorcycles and smirk a lot (although that can help in some cases). It is because all bad boys really need is a somewhat good girl to curb their bad boy ways and to love them unconditionally. They’re not bad, they’re just misunderstood. And of course they’re off the scale hot. Like REALLY hot. I’m talking about their theme tune being ‘I’m Sexy and I know it’ hot. When applied to Gossip Girl the theory goes like this: ﻿Nate Archibald, the ultimate poster boy for pretty guys, cheated on his girlfriend,Blair, with her best friend Serena. He’s her first love so she forgives and tries to make him love her. She’s deluded herself into thinking they belong together but they’re the polar opposites. Blair is strong, manipulative and knows what she wants whereas Nate is naïve, lost and has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Chuck Bass is introduced as Nate’s best friend and completes the NJBC (Non Judging Breakfast Club) group. Chuck is the opposite of Nate in many ways. He’s an arsehole who relies on his daddy’s money, treats girls like crap and doesn’t really worry about the consequences of his actions. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿After Blair becomes upset when Nate breaks up with her she seeks comfort in Chuck and both can’t deny they mutual attraction they feel even after Nate wins Blair back. Chuck loves her for who she is and understands better than anyone. Fast forward into season two and we see the more complex side of Chuck. He’s more than just the stereotypical ‘bad boy’ who spends his father’s money (oh have I mentioned he’s a billionaire?!) and sleeps around with anything that’s got boobs and a pulse. We see him seeking his father’s love and approval and dealing with constant rejection. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Now, most young women would have seen Nate as an annoying man boy who needed to grow up and realised that Chuck’s affectionate and caring side was the obvious winner. Chuck, however, isn’t as innocent as he seems. He hurt Blair a lotthroughout the show but for me the low point was when he basically ‘sold’ her for a hotel. While Blair may have forgiven him that is something I, as a viewer and a girl, have never been able to get past. But the show didn’t end there and after MANY different love interests that included a prince no less, Blair realised that Chuck was the only one for her and chose him. I started viewing Dan Humphrey, the ultimate outsider, differently after the hotel incident with Chuck. He replaced Nate as the ‘good guy’. To say I was not a fan of his for the first four seasons would not be a lie but I saw a different side to him when he was with Blair. He was so different than both Nate and Chuck – he didn’t grow up in wealth, he was like really smart and he cared for Blair. Although they disliked each other they grew to be friends in season four as they had a lot in common – both liked art, the same movies, they were both really intelligent but challenged each other to be better. When Dan realised he couldn’t be with Blair romantically he was there for her as friend. He helped her deal with her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, he rescued her on her wedding day from the evil prince, he wrote a bestselling book about his love for her (say whaaat?), he fulfilled her wish of being a princess for the day, he sacrificed his own love so she could be happy and he was there for her whenever she needed him. When she was frightened she would lose everything he told her she would always have him and when she was scared about her pregnancy he went as far to imply that he didn’t care that the child wasn’t his as he would love it regardless because nothing of Blair’s could ever be bad *swoon* However, that didn’t work out because of Blair’s feelings for Chuck. She left a guy who loved and respected her for a guy who she’s had an unhealthy relationship with. The theory proves that Chuck, the ultimate bad boy, was just misunderstood and was ultimately a good guy. He just needed to grow and mature as person. Sadly in real life it doesn’t work out like that. The problem is sometimes the guy isn’t misunderstood and is just a jerk. Shouldn’t you like someone for who they are instead of trying to change them? Let’s be honest how many guys out there are misunderstood billionaire playboys that struggle to say those three little words? That’s why I was team Dan because by Blair choosing Chuck it shows that all the pain he put her through and how badly he treated her didn’t mean anything. What type of message does that send out to young women? We are meant to root for him because he is ‘misunderstood’. We are told it is ‘romantic’. Ugh. Someone pass me the sick bucket please. TV shows are going to use this theory of the love triangle for many years to come; however, I hope they make it more complex than it has been. Why not have a strong female lead that rejects the guy who treats her badly? Or have the heroine focusing on herself for once rather than the brooding love interests? In the battle of the so called nice guy vs. the bad boy I think that for me guys like Dan Humphrey win. While Chuck may have been everything Blair wanted, Dan is the one who will always be there for her and he challenged her to be better and follow her dreams. At the end of the day that is what every viewer wants to see – a happily ever after with a male protagonist who loves the heroine not in spite of her flaws but because of them. - something I wrote a while ago -